


The Daylight in Mourning

by coruscantguard (nadiavandyne), nadiavandyne



Series: 2020 Fic Challenges [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Master and Apprentice - Claudia Gray
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Jedi June, Lightsabers, Referenced Past Child Death, and, compassion - Freeform, for the prompts, ie. Nim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24594706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nadiavandyne/pseuds/coruscantguard, https://archiveofourown.org/users/nadiavandyne/pseuds/nadiavandyne
Summary: Quinlan bickers with his friends, accidentally looks into the past, and thinks up a plan.or,A Jedi is never truly gone.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Luminara Unduli & Quinlan Vos, Rael Averross & Nim Pianna
Series: 2020 Fic Challenges [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1810486
Comments: 4
Kudos: 66





	The Daylight in Mourning

They’re in The Room of a Thousand Fountains when it happens.

“Okay, fine, I just don’t get why Master Nu would only let youin.”

Obi-Wan’s voice is just shy of a whine, and Quinlan carefully doesn’t make eye contact with Lumi, because he doesn’t trust himself not to start laughing. Obi-Wan has sharp elbows, and Quinlan's not about to give him a reason to use them.

(Master Nu’s refusal to allow Obi-Wan and him access to the ancient flimsi records that Lumi has been studying isn’t something that Quinlan is taking personally. Obi-Wan, however...

Well, there’s a reason they’re not in the Archives right now.)

“Both of you _are_ still initiates,” Lumi points out, completely ignoring the fact that she’d started studying the records when she was also an initiate.

There’s a sense of pride and smugness around her in the Force, and Quinlan sticks his tongue out at her. She pretends not to see.

“You’ve been a padawan for like, three days,” Obi-Wan shoots back, and his leg kicks out to hit her in the shins. Seemingly expecting the blow, Lumi jumps over it easily, and her face is serene as she moves to Quinlan’s other side so she can use him as a blockade.

Well, he can’t have _that_.

“Come on, Obi, don’t mock the elderly,” Quinlan says, and instinctively covers his head as he ducks down into a forward roll, propelling himself away from Lumi and her retaliation. “Have _respect_ for Padawan Unduli. You could learn a lot from her.”

“Oh, of course,” Obi-Wan replies, his voice agreeable. “I mean, as Master Yoda always says, _the sign of infinite wisdom, a padawan braid is._ ”

Quinlan has never heard Master Yoda say that. The glare Lumi sends Obi-Wan indicates that she’s also never been treated to that particular nugget of wisdom.

Obi-Wan manages to keep his face serene for about two standard seconds, before he bursts out laughing at their faces. Lumi huffs.

“Both of you are the worst,” Lumi informs them, matter-of-factly. “The _worst_ , and I hope Instructor G’raeche fails you so you have to sit through xyr lecture on the Ruusan Reformation again.”

“I’m sorry, Luminara,” Quinlan says, but he’s snickering through the apology despite himself.

“The. Absolute. Worst.” She empathizes each individual word, but there’s no anger in the Force around her, just waves of the light green of her eternal spring. Quinlan is moving to get up from his crouch in the grass when he sees a flash of something purple directly on his right. His hand is touching it before he even realizes--

The world _spins_ , just like it always does when this happens, a nauseating swirl of colors that has him _four and shaking in Master Tholme’s arms, the image of his parents burned behind his eyes, **breathe** , he has to **breathe** , I am one with the Force and the Force is with me, I am one with the Force and the Force is with me--_

When the image stabilizes out again, he’s standing on an unfamiliar planet, the wind howling in his ears. There’s ice as far out as he can see, cliffs and caves of it, an image he dimly recognizes from the holoprojectors displaying worlds in Instructor Daagir’s classroom. _Ilum_.

Wow. He’s on _Ilum_.

In the distance, he can see two people exiting a cave-- other Jedi, probably-- and he heads towards them, the image bending with him, unusually life-like when compared to his usual pyschometric visions. The taller of the two looks to be humanoid, but they have their hood up, so he can’t make out any distinguishing features. The smaller one is Tholothian, her headdress and tendrils easy to distinguish, and when he gets closer, he can see that there’s a short padawan braid behind her ear.

“Don’t deliberately be _obtuse_ , Master,” the Tholothian says, one hand twisted in the taller Jedi’s robe, the other in a fist that she holds close to her chest. “You _know_ what I meant.”

“Young Padawan of mine, I can assure you that I would never deliberately be obtuse.” There’s humor in the Jedi’s voice, and Quinlan _recognizes_ it, knows it from the recordings of that Jedi’s recent testimony. Padawan Kit had been in _so much trouble_ when Master Windu figured out that he’d sliced it from the Archives. “You’re telling me that the Force wants you to include a lilac purple ribbon in your lightsaber design. Might I remind you that your lightsaber is your life?”

That’s Master _Rael Averross’s_ voice _._ Master _Averross._

And if that’s Master Averross, then the girl must be--

“Okay, now you’re just doing your Master Yan impression.” _Nim Pianna_ protests, letting go of Master Averross robe, her eye roll practically audible. She opens her hand, and a blue kyber crystal rises from it to hover in the air. The glow the crystal emits is partially covered, as there’s a purple ribbon wrapped around it. It’s been tied into a delicate bow, and it flutters in the wind. “I'm just gonna wrap it around the hilt! You don’t need to channel him and be all--”

 _Nim Pianna_ pauses, and _Nim Pianna_ crosses her arms, the crystal and ribbon still hovering in the air in front of her. _Nim Pianna_ gives Master Averross a snooty look, tosses her tendrils back with a flick of her head and lowers her voice to say, “ _Padawan Pianna, the galaxy will end if you do not learn to cut a fish in the exact way they did on Serenno a thousand years ago. Knowing the history of a planet you’ll probably never visit is important, as is properly cutting fish--”_

Quinlan’s yanked out of the vision abruptly, his stomach swirling uncomfortably as he’s brought back to the present, dumped back onto the grass of The Room of a Thousand Fountains. He comes back to his body in a rush.

He feels like he’s going to be sick.

“Quinlan?” Lumi asks, her voice low and worried. “Quinlan? Are you with us?”

Lumi is sitting on the ground next to him, her legs folded under her, worry rolling off her in waves. Obi-Wan is nowhere in sight. “Mm’fine,” Quinlan manages, pushing himself into a sitting position. Hands reach out to steady him, and he forces down the automatic embarrassment and insistence that he doesn’t need help, instead focuses on grounding himself in the present.

“Obi-Wan went to get Master Tholme,” she says, and he nods in response, doesn’t look up to meet her eyes. “You were out of it for a lot longer than usual.”

She doesn’t say that she was worried. He feels it anyways. Lumi’s shields are always a mess when she’s distressed. She’s a lot like Obi in that way.

“Thanks,” he manages after a few seconds. He looks to the side, and sees the ribbon on the grass. His hand is still on it.

Quinlan picks the ribbon up, and wraps his fingers around it. There’s an idea starting to form in his mind. It might be a really bad idea, but just maybe...

*

It’s years later when he sees Master Averross again.

Quinlan is a Padawan when there’s an event in Pijal, some kind of celebration, and it’s large enough that coverage of it makes the news channels. Master Tholme and him are on Ringo Vinda at the time, crammed into a diner booth as they try to figure out which groups are most likely to make trouble at the upcoming trade negotiations the planet is hosting. He’s almost halfway through his iced cream when he looks up from the report he’s been scanning, and sees a familiar figure on a nearby viewscreen.

The viewscreen shows Master Averross standing outside, in front of what looks to be a palace. It’s windy in Pijal, and Master Averross’s hood is down this time, so the Jedi Master’s hair looks a lot like Master Tholme’s hair looks in the morning before he gets his hands on a hairbrush.

Master Averross’s hand is on the shoulder of a youngling that the newscaster announces to be Crown Princess Fanry, but after a particularly strong gust of wind hits, he visibly sighs and lets go of the princess’s shoulder to pat down his hair. The Crown Princess twists her head backwards, and she brings her hands up to her face to hide her giggles at his disgruntled expression-- but that’s not what catches Quinlan’s eyes.

What catches his eyes is the flash of color revealed by the movement of Master Averross’s robes, the flash of color he hasn’t seen since Master Windu had a mission to the Pijal system, and Quinlan had pulled him aside, pressed an envelope into his hands. 

There’s a lilac purple ribbon tied around the hilt of the lightsaber at Master Averross’s hip, and the sight of it has Quinlan releasing a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

It happens in an instant, just a flicker of movement and the twist of light. Quinlan turns, his eyes following it, and in the crowd outside the diner window, he sees something like an apparition, a shimmer of blue in the shape of a girl. He breathes in, and there’s a whisper of _thank you_ , he breathes out, and the image is gone, leaving behind nothing but a feeling of fleeting warmth.

On the viewscreen behind him, Nim’s ribbon flutters in the wind.

**Author's Note:**

> \- ...sorry?
> 
> \- Man, I have to admit, I wrote most of this in one sitting in my Tumblr drafts. I have FEELINGS about Nim Pianna and how her death must have impacted the Jedi Order. SO MANY FEELINGS. 
> 
> \- Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> \- Come talk to me on Tumblr [@coruscantguard!](https://coruscantguard.tumblr.com/)


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